After corruption scandal, impoverished border county faces a taxpayer revolt

Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo at a meeting at the County Courthouse in Eagle Pass, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. Rudy Heredia, Commissioner of Precinct 2, and several county employees have been indicted for misuse of grant funds, among other charges.

Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo at a meeting at the County...

EAGLE PASS — In the wake of a public-corruption scandal that has rocked Maverick County and swept out many top officials, the impoverished border community now faces a citizen revolt over a tax increase and a plan to borrow $8.5 million for county operations and road work.

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The latest salvo in the taxpayer uprising came Tuesday with a lawsuit in state district court seeking to force county leaders to hold a tax rate rollback election.

“We’re asking the court to order them to do their duty and set up a process for an election,” said lawyer José Garza, who filed the suit.

County Judge David Saucedo said Wednesday the county, which rejected the petition in January, will stick to its guns.

“We plan to defend our position. The actions we took were based on what the law requires,” he said.

In a county where the unemployment rate rarely dips below 10 percent and a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line, any tax increase is politically risky.

The protests began last fall, shortly after the county approved a nearly $26 million budget and a slightly higher tax rate of 58 cents per $100 in valuation.

Things quickly got complicated after an alert taxpayer spotted a $3 million budget error. The mistake was soon corrected, and the budget and tax rate were then slightly reduced, but the damage was done.

Since the movement to curb county spending took off, various prominent former county officials have joined the cause. In two petition drives, organizers gathered thousands of signatures from citizens opposed to higher taxes and more county borrowing.

One petition called for a tax rate rollback. The other was in reaction to a county plan, announced in December, to borrow $8.5 million for projects including road work, software updates and new vehicles for law enforcement.

The rollback petition stalled. But the other one succeeded, and the county has set a May 6 referendum on the debt plan. Saucedo said at a meeting last week the $8.5 million in new debt would not raise taxes.

Several commissioners favor the plan.

“I feel we need to lend a helping hand. I’ll sleep comfortably tonight. I think it’s good for our community,” Roberto Ruiz, who represents Precinct 1, said at the meeting.

“Just take a ride in my precinct. I don’t have pavement on my streets. I go though potholes every day,” added Precinct 2 Commissioner Rosy Cantu.

The increasingly harsh confrontation over county spending follows a traumatic time for border community of about 60,000 people.

Starting in 2012, numerous Maverick County officials — including four of the five county commissioners — were indicted and sent to prison in a broad federal investigation of bribes and kickbacks that cost the county more than $1.3 million.

Some believe the scandal left a deep public mistrust of county officials, even though new members sit on the county commission. Saucedo, who wasn’t indicted, is the one holdover.

“We now have this negative image because of the federal indictments. We have this shadow over us, and they don’t see what we have done,” said Precinct 5 Commissioner Jerry Morales.

Some think the county has created more mistrust by resisting citizen’s requests for tax and financial documents. The county has twice appealed Texas open records requests to the attorney general, adding months of delay.

The protesters have repeatedly complained to various state officials, thus far with little result, that the county made a mess of this year’s budget and its handling of the rollback petition, and has ignored tax code, government and election rules.

“These rogue actions by county officials will surely be an interesting future case study in bad government for trainings across Texas,” Ethelvina Felan, a protest leader, wrote in an email to the Texas comptroller and secretary of state. She is the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Eagle Pass.

Saucedo, who has taken the brunt of the criticism, said that a tax rollback would be a catastrophe for the county, forcing drastic cuts in staff and programs.

“We’d probably be reduced to serving the public three days a week,” he said, noting projects will be postponed if the county cannot borrow money.

“It’s political more than anything. There’s been no mention of what the school district is trying to do. They are trying to raise taxes more than the county,” he said.

But protesters, who include former County Judge Rudy Bowles, former County Commissioner Hooky Guajardo and former County Appraiser Victor Perry, argue that county officials have been fiscally irresponsible and disingenuous.

Last fall, they note, the county had to borrow more than $1 million to make it through the fiscal year.

With the long-term county debt at about $40 million, they say borrowing another $8.5 million would be foolhardy, despite assurances by Saucedo that it would not raise taxes.

“We are very concerned over the financial condition the county finds itself in. There’s no question there is excessive debt,” said Bowles, who became county judge in 1982 by defeating the incumbent Ramon Saucedo, father of the current judge.

“It’s gotten to where it’s totally out of control in our opinion. We owe so much money, I don’t know how in the world we’re going to get a balanced budget out of it,” he added.

Perry, the chief appraiser for 31 years, said the commissioners cannot ignore the tax rollback movement, even though they rejected the petition after invalidating hundreds of signatures.

“They have two options: They can admit their mistake and lower the tax rate to .45 per $100, or they can spend $70,000 and hold a rollback election,” he said.

Saucedo said the petition was denied on legitimate grounds.

“One, a lot of signatures were ineligible, forgeries, dead persons, things of that nature. Also, we didn’t go above our published rollback rate. Our tax rate went down from last year,” he said.

But according to an opinion by the secretary of state, there were still enough valid signatures for the petition to succeed. The county has ignored the finding, claiming a deadline had passed.

If a district judge finds that the county erred in rejecting the rollback petition and orders an election, the public will decide the issue. If the rollback succeeds, it will trigger tax refunds and spending cuts.

“That will be the worst day in the history of Maverick County history if that were to happen,” Morales, the Precinct 5 commissioner, said.

But for those seeking to reduce taxes and curb additional borrowing, it’s a price that will have to be paid.

“What have they done for the people of this community over the past four years?” asked Guadalupe Cardona, 75, a former city fire chief.

“Nothing but raise taxes and borrow money. And now they want more money,” he said.